Skills Active announce two of the finalists for Apprentice of the Year

New Zealand industry training body Skills Active has announced two of the finalists for the 2020 Apprentice of the Year competition as Nicole Shand and Lewis Young.

Shand and Lewis are two of three finalists for the 2020 Skills Active Apprentice of the Year – an annual award that goes to a high-potential apprentice with commitment, passion and diligence, who has the skills and qualifications to improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders, through the medium of sport, recreation or the performing arts.

Nicole Shand has spent her career creating a wide range of community sport and recreation programmes with the common factor in all her work being the desire to see people reap the benefits of finding physical activity that they enjoy.  

For the past 10 years, Shand has been raising a family in Nelson and working for Sport Tasman. Supported by her employer, she has completed the New Zealand Apprenticeship in Recreation in Sport (Coach/Instructor). She is also a Skills Active assessor and a mum of four.

Shand advises “my role has involved working with children, postnatal women and the elderly across a range of programmes and events.

“I was responsible for developing these programmes, running them and looking for new ways to improve and develop exercise in our community. A major project was acquiring funding and designing a gym that we set up within the Saxton Stadium, for personal training, strength and conditioning, and youth access.”

Shand has a strong belief in the power of exercise to benefit the whole person; body, mind and soul. This is true for everyone, but especially the new mums that she has worked with over the years.

Shand adds “I feel there is a massive gap when it comes to supporting postnatal women, whether mentally or physically. When we have a baby our world turns to them, but our own body and state of mind get left as an afterthought. My goal is to be able to train more fitness professionals in supporting postnatal women getting back into physical activity.

“I know how hard it can be for people to find physical activity that they enjoy or a place where they don’t feel pressure or insecurities, so this is the type of environment I have tried to create within Sport Tasman.”

Shand advises she studied sport and exercise science at the beginning of her career, but decided to embark on the Skills Active apprenticeship as a way of maintaining her skill currency explaining “the apprenticeship allowed me go back to basics and review all of my sessions and their structure. It helped me to revisit how we set up and deliver sessions and events so that people get the most out of them, with safety and planning as a major focus.

“It was a way for me to upskill, develop new skills, and obtain a qualification reflect the current skills I was using on a day-to-day basis. I feel like there is always something new to learn, and doing so can only benefit the industry and community.”

Lewis Young (above), originally from the UK, where he swum the English channel solo at the age of 17, has been working at the Levin Aquatic Centre since 2018, both in the swim school and the fitness centre.

Young was already an experienced swim teacher when he started the job, and he wanted to complement that skillset by getting qualified in exercise and fitness, so he chose the Skills Active Multi-Skilled Exercise Instructor apprenticeship.

Young explains “the new role meant I was managing the gym, but I didn’t have much background in gym operations. I am a strong believer that any supervisor or manager should be able to step in and teach if necessary, as this is a good example for staff, as well as for business continuity.

“The apprenticeship covered every aspect that was looking to study in great detail, while allowing me to learn on the job from some of the awesome, experienced staff that the centre already had. I also had a fantastic Skills Active assessor who was able to give me feedback and advice throughout, to help me grow.”

Young says that as a practical, kinaesthetic learner, the apprenticeship model was perfect for him. Putting things into action was the best way to cement concepts and information in his mind. At the same time, the qualification also helped him step up his planning and organising skills.

“The course has shown me heaps of different ways to plan and prepare, allowing me to channel my energy and thought processes into what needs to be done. Without these plans my ideas had the ability to go a little all over the place! It has also given me more in-depth knowledge about anatomy, and the exercise industry.”

Young’s long-term plan is to keep spreading the love of fitness and health in the community. He is currently teaching both aqua and land-based fitness at the Aquatic Centre, and one day would like to have a business of his own that combines these passions, but also has room for his love of marketing, and photography.

The Skills Active Apprentice of the Year will be announced later in the year.

Image top: Nicole Shand and image above of Lewis Young